


roller skates

by myflower



Series: pentagon one shots / drabbles 2017 [5]
Category: Pentagon (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Meetings, M/M, Roller rink, flirting?, implied yanone, some language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 11:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10989675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myflower/pseuds/myflower
Summary: "are you sure that you aren't a middle schooler?"





	roller skates

**Author's Note:**

> based on a prompt from my [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/stanpentagon). send me prompts there!  
> enjoy :)  
> (rushed and un-beta'd...sorry. i tried to include everyone in some way!)

Jinho’s work at the roller rink was never out of the ordinary.  He skated along with a staff’s jacket on in his working hours or manned the skate exchange.  He’d even occasionally work the DJ stand when Hyojong wasn’t around.  He never worked the food bar though; that was the job of Hongseok, his coworker. There were two other kids named Yuto and Hyunggu, who worked the door payments and the arcade prizes. Yuto also helped to fix the machines in the arcade when they broke.

Jinho shared his position with two tall kids named Yan An and Wooseok.  They’d sometimes come in to work overtime and overlap hours with Jinho, as they were still college students that had to make money somehow.  The two were more fitting for the gig than Jinho was, even though they were much younger than he was.  They were always taken more seriously by the kids and teenagers that covered the skate floor.  It made Jinho sort of hot-blooded, so when they were on duty, he was always taking care of the kids getting their skates.  Thankfully he was definitely tall enough to grab the skates on the top shelf. He definitely didn’t have to use a step stool.  Definitely.

But one day a week, Yan An had to work his other job as a pet-sitter for his friend (who Jinho had been introduced to as Changgu.  The duo seemed very close, close enough to expect something more than a friendship, but Jinho kept silent about it), and Wooseok had late classes, so it was up to Jinho, Hongseok, Hyojong, Hyunggu, and Yuto to work the entire rink, managed by their “friend”, Shinwon. He asked each of  his workers to call him a friend rather than a boss, as that was what he was comfortable with, but he rarely ever acted as friendly as he wanted to be.

It was busier than normal for a reason Jinho couldn’t figure out until nearly twenty kids walked up to the skate exchange at once.  He immediately felt overwhelmed, yelling for Shinwon over the blasting music for help.

The manager quickly joined him to help get each of the kids their skates as quickly as possible, breaking a sweat (and nearly a leg) in the process. 

“Birthday,”  Jinho breathed as he sat on his stool, staring at Shinwon.  “It’s gotta be.”

“It is,”  Shinwon affirmed, “I should’ve warned you, sorry, hyung.”

“Don’t worry about it, thanks for the help.”

“Of course, I work here too, don’t I?”

“You practically own the place, shut up,”  Jinho cracked a smile at the silly comment from the younger manager.  It’s followed by a moment of silence between the two, breathing somewhat heavily, accompanied by Hyojong’s music.

“You should honestly have my position, hyung, you work harder than I do, and you work longer hours.”

“But you’ve worked here longer, period.  You deserve to keep the position, kid. Don’t be hard on yourself.  Plus, you fit it very well.”

“Thanks, hyung,” Shinwon said, turning to face the counter again.  Jinho turns his head up too, and he’s met with the face of just about the prettiest man he’d ever seen, standing at the counter.

“Hey, Hwitaek hyung!”  Jinho heard Shinwon say, “What are you doing all the way out here?”

“Wanted to come see your gig, Shinwonie!  And remember, that live-music offer is always up for grabs if you want.”

“I would love to have you here, but Hyojong-hyung would throw a fit.  You know how he is.”

“Yeah, sadly,” Hwitaek said. He turned his attention to be fixed on Jinho for a moment, who immediately ended his staring session.  Then Hwitaek laughed (fucking _ laughed!  _  When Jinho looked back at him, his eyes turned into beautiful crescents and wrinkled on the sides and Jinho thought that he would never again want to see if he couldn’t see that sight.) and asked for his size of skates.  Shinwon hastily attended to it, and wished him fun while skating as he passed them over the counter.

Hwitaek left the counter to go sit down at a bench and get the skates on and plug in his ear buds.  As he stood up, skates on, Jinho realized no one was supervising the skaters, so he grabbed his staff jacket and his rollerblades and slipped them on quickly.  As he watched Hwitaek make his way onto the floor, he heard Hyojong say over the speakers, “Middle school skate!”

Jinho freaked for a moment, getting out on the floor as quickly as possible.  He made it to the middle and spun quickly, his eyes following around the oval for any sign of Hwitaek.  He didn’t think that he’d be going so quickly, but when he was finally found, he was speeding through the kids that were at least six inches shorter than he was.  Jinho went in the direction he thought would catch Hwitaek with, and Hwitaek was so focused on skating he slammed into Jinho and the two fell over each other on the ground.

Jinho was on his back, groaning, and the kids around at that time gathered around the two.  Hwitaek started hastily apologizing for the collision, thinking that Jinho was one of the kids (which was half understandable, half offensive).

“Not to kill your vibe, but this is the middle schooler’s skate,” Jinho finally said, Hwitaek going completely silent.

“I didn’t realize.  I’m sorry,” Hwitaek apologized once more.  Hyojong wasn’t watching the floor, because if he was, it’d be quieter in there.  The kids slowly started leaving the scene as Jinho and Hwitaek stared at each other, still in the same position they fell in.

“You’re still laying on me,” Jinho said.  Hwitaek immediately got up, wiped himself down and clean, and grabbed Jinho’s hand to help him up.  He was amused when he saw Jinho’s height.

“Are you sure that you aren’t a middle schooler?”  Hwitaek laughed, and Jinho rolled his eyes, skating off the floor.

As he entered the skate exchange, he asked Shinwon if he could take care of the floor, to which he immediately obliged.

It took five minutes of sitting at the counter before new people came in asking for skates.  Jinho did his job as he was supposed to, and did it well for the next twenty minutes that followed, the only things accompanying him being the screams of children and the blasting of (what now was) Block B songs.  When the food counter wasn’t as busy, Hongseok brought him some cheese fries, to which he thanked the younger happily.  So he had three accompanying factors, and he was genuinely feeling somewhat good, despite the previous events.

He watched Shinwon skate to the DJ booth and grab the microphone, announcing the races that were beginning.  Everyone left the floor, and Jinho was surprised when Hwitaek came up to him.  Shinwon’s voice was overpowering, but Hwitaek still worked up conversation with him.

“Sorry again, about earlier,” Hwitaek said, “That was insensitive of me.  I’m Hwitaek.  What’s your name?”

“It’s fine, it’s not the first time, it’s just the first time with someone like you,” Jinho said, immediately realizing that sounded like he was flirting, “I’m sorry, excuse that comment.  I’m Jinho.”

“You’re awfully formal,” Hwitaek commented, “You work at a damn roller rink.”

“The kids here are too informal.  Someone’s gotta be their example.”

“How old are you, even?”  Hwitaek inquired. 

“The oldest here.”

“You’re kidding.”  Hwitaek laughed.

“Not at all. Shinwon made a whole big deal out of me being his oldest hyung.”

“That means you’re older than me. How does that work? You’re tiny.”

“You act like I don’t already know that,” Jinho laughed in response. “I don’t know. I was born in April of ‘92. My parents are short too.”

“That’s insane. You’re a whole year older than I am. And I thought that  _ I  _ was Shinwon’s oldest hyung.”

“Well, you’d be wrong, Hwitaek.”

The races kept occurring in the background, screeches from teenagers filling the rink, and Hwitaek listened in for a few moments, Jinho continued to stare at him.

“You’re really handsome. Do you want to hang out sometime?” Hwitaek asked, turning back to face Jinho.

“What?” He asked, shocked.

“Do you want to hang out?”

Jinho didn’t know how to respond at first, but ended up saying yes.

So that night, he left the roller rink with a lighthearted feeling in his chest and Hwitaek’s phone number in his hand.

 

**Author's Note:**

> comments keep me motivated. let's talk on twitter @hyojongsbf


End file.
